Identification ornament



2 Mal'h 12, W FORSTNER 'l IDENTIFICATION ORNAMENT Filed Feb. 21, 193sINVE OR T ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 12, 1940 mirri-:D STATES IDENTIFICATIONORNAMENT William Forstner, Irvington, N. J., assignor to Forstner ChainCorporation, a corporation of New Jersey `Implication February 21, 1938,Serial No. 191,638

4 Claims.

My present invention relates to identification ornaments such asidentification tags for use with key chains and the like, and hasparticular reference to a novel construction for selective orna g,mentation. p

It is the principal object of my invention to provide an ornament holdersuitable for use asian identification ornament, in which selectedornaments, as for example initial letters, may be readily mounted.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a simplifiedconstruction for identification ornaments, which may be made in aVariety of materials, as for example leather, metal, and the like.

It is anadditional object of `my invention to provide a constructionwhich will retain a selected ornament against accidental detachment of.the` selected ornament thereon. p

Another object otmy invention is to provide a simplified constructionwhich may be readily manufactured with standard shop machines, thusreducing the cost of manufacture.

With the above and other objects and advantageousfeatures invview, myinvention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosedin the detaileddescription following, in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing, and more specifically defined in the claimsappended thereto.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan View showing the novel invention as applied to aKeyring tag;

Fig. 2 is a side View thereof;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a leather ornament container;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the top clamp member;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of an ornament base;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of an `ornament for mounting on said base;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a modified base construction; i

Fig. 9 is a plan view of a modied identification ornament assembly;

Fig. l0 is a perspective View of an ornament for use therewith;

Fig. 11 is a perspective rear View of the cover for use therewith; and

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of the modified ornament bases.

or separation, while permitting ready mounting (Cl. l--II.40)

terials illustrated-in the drawing being leather and metal. v

Referring to the drawing, the novel identification ornament I5 has aplurality of selected ornaments It, the illustration disclosinginitials, and is connected b-y means of a connecting member II, whichpreferably is in the form of a flexible chain, to a keyring or the likeI8. The identification ornament includes an outer container I9, see Fig.4, which when made of leather is composed of two layers and 2| sewedtogether at the sides, as indicated at 22, to provide a container havingan opening 23 between the two layers at the lower end thereof, and acorresponding opening 24 at the upper end thereof, the upper layer 2Ubeing cut as indicated at 25 to form an ornament retention frame.

An ornament base 26, see Fig. 6, is preferably stamped out of sheetmetal stock, and has two aligned flanges 2, preferably struck up fromthe stock, and having their adjacent edges 28 turned towards each otherand spaced from the body of the base, the upper `end of the base beingshaped to conform to the shape of the container I9, and

` terminating in a head 29 which has an opening 3l) therethrough forreceiving one end of the chain connection I'I. An ornament 3|, see Fig.7, preferably in the form of an initial letter, is made from sheet metalstock, but may be of any suitable material, and has grooves 3 2at theupper and lower edges thereof, which cooperate with the edges 28 topermit sliding engagement of the ornament with the base.

As illustrated, two initial letters may be positioned on the base, noteFig. 1, but any number of initial letters may be used by properlyproportioning the width of the letters and of the base; other ornamentsmay, if, desired, be used in place of letters. With the ornament lettersslidingly mounted on the base, the base and its letters are passedthrough the container I9 until the frame encloses the flanges 21 andengages the sides of the ornament letters, so as to lock the ornamentletters against lateral movement, the head 29 projecting from thecontainer. An end closure 33, preferably of stamped metal, and having anopening 3d and prongs 35, is then positioned with the head 29 passingthrough the opening 3d, and is then bent over, as shown in Fig. 3, tosecurely lock the end to the upper end of the container, thus completingthe assembly. Since the chain i? is attached to the ornament base bypassing a link or a snap hook thereto, the ornaments are securely lockedin place, and cannot be removed except by separating the base from thechain il' and removing the base from the container.

The above described construction utilizes selected ornaments; and analternative base indicated as 35 in Fig. 8, and having a. permanentornament 3i mounted thereon, may be used instead.

If it be desired to use a material other than leather for the container,a construction such as disclosed in Figs. 9-12 may be used, theassembled identification ornament 38 being preferably entirely of metal,although other suitable materials may be used, and consisting of a base39, preferably formed of stamped sheet metal, having spaced upstandingflanges Ml terminating in edges 4l which extend towards each other andare spaced from the body of the base, a side fiange 42 being preferablyprovided to facilitate mounting and positioning of the ornaments on thebase. 'The ornaments 43 are similar in construction to lthe ornaments3i, and have grooves lill at the upper and lower ends thereof tofacilitate sliding engagement with the edges H, the first ornamentresting against the fiange 42.

The ornament base has a head t5 provided with an opening 46, forattachment to a chain or other connection, and has a projecting finger4'! at the lower end thereof, spacing formations 43 and being providedto keep a cover member at suitable spaced `relation to the base. Thecover member 5E! has sides 5l and an inner frame portion 52, the lowerend having a slot 53 therethrough and theupper end being cut to providea central resilient finger S. When the initials or other ornaments areassembled on the base 35, the cover 5D is positioned so as to pass thetongue M through the slot 53, the resilient nger 54 then snappingoverthe edge 55 of the opening 46 to lock the parts together, the finger54 being preferably curved so as to snappingly engage the edge 55 and toprovide a small finger engageable extension projecting slightly at theback to facilitate detachment of the cover from the base; the edges 5ipreferably completely enclose the edges of the base so as to provide anattractive assembly.

While I have described specific constructional embodiments of myinvention, any desired changes in the material used for the parts, intheir relative arrangement and assembly, and in their relativeproportions, may be made to suit the requirements. for differentdesigns, Without vdeparting from the spirit and the scope of theinvention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim-1 l. In an identification ornament, a base having spacedfianges, said flanges having retaining means extending toward eachother, an ornament device having complementary retaining means slidablyengageable with said flange means, and a cover secured to said base andhavingfa lframe opening, the sides of said frame opening engaging thesides of said ornament device to locl; said device to said base.

2. In an identification ornament, a base having spaced flanges, saidiianges having edges extending toward each other, an ornament devicehaving grooves and slidably engageable with said edges, `and a coversecured to said base and having a frame opening, the sides of saidframeopening engaging the sides of said ornament device to lock said deviceto said base.

3. In an identification ornament, a rigid, me-

tallic base having spaced flanges, said flanges' having edges emendingtoward each other, an ornament device having grooves and slidablyengageable Withsaid edges, and a flexible, non-metallic cover secured t0said base and having a frame opening, the sides of said frame openingengaging the sides of said ornament device to lock said device to saidbase. l

4. In an identification ornament, a base having spaced flanges, saidflanges having edges extending towards each other, an ornament devicehaving grooves and slidably engageable with said edges, and a coversecured to said base and having a frame opening, the sides of said frameopening engaging the sides of said ornament device to lock said deviceto said base, said base having an extension provided with an opening.`

W'ILLIAM FORS'INER,

